In large earth moving operations, it is often necessary to add dirt to build the elevation of the soil, for roads or other purposes. In order to provide an adequate foundation, compaction of the soil is necessary. Various methods and apparatus for compacting soil are well known in this field and one particular advance in compaction rollers is the type commonly referred to as an "impact roller".
Impact rollers have been known for some time, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,950,110, 3,966,346 and 4,147,448, all which describe an impact roller and various modifications thereto. While the impact roller has proved to be an effective method of compacting soil, the impact roller leaves a corrugated surface finish which typically requires grading with separate equipment. More particularly, conventional graders with a horizontal blade are utilized to provide a flat surface finish which permits drainage of rain. On the other hand, a conventional scarifier is utilized to provide a broken up and loosened surface to permit the addition of further layers of dirt.
In either case, at least two additional pieces of equipment are necessary to finish the surface of the ground after use of the impact roller.